Guilty Until Proven Innocent
by Aisha Iwakura
Summary: The judge's voice echoed again, and all twelve members of the jury stood to their feet. One man dressed in a crisp, pressed suit straightened his tie and cleared his voice. "We the jury hereby state that Duo Maxwell is guilty as charged."
1. Chapter 1

Inspired by....me o_o XD   
  
Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing, blah blah...  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Guilty Before Proven Innocent  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Duo bowed his head slightly, the buzzing sound of quiet conversation going in one ear and out the other. He never really wanted to hear what they were saying anyway, since he knew what the topic of every single one of those conversations were. He could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes boring into his back, as if they were trying to reach inside of him, and find out his deepest, darkest thoughts.  
  
He knew two cornflower blue eyes out of those hundreds had tears in them, possibly falling down her pale cheeks.   
  
Those tears were for him.  
  
Tears of disbelief, tears of anger.   
  
A small sigh came out from between his lips. He knew he wanted to look back there. To hug Hilde and make her stop crying. The handcuffs prevented him from doing so, however. She probably didn't want to look at his nasty, murderous face anyway. She probably felt heartbroken -- like her soul had just been ripped into two.   
  
He didn't blame her.   
  
Afterall, he had been convicted of manslaughter in the second degree.  
  
Second degree murder.   
  
Anyone who knew him would never be able to believe he was capable of second degree murder. He was mostly known for his cheerful attitude, always cracking jokes, and being the calm one in the middle of a hectic situation. Never the one capable of taking another human being's life.   
  
"Duo Maxwell, will you please rise."  
  
Duo stood slowly, the chains around his wrists clinking together at the sudden movement. Not a single whisper echoed throughout the courtroom, as all eyes were locked on the only standing person in the courtroom. Duo kept his eyes focused on the plain carpet, suddenly fascinated at his cleanliness.   
  
"Will the jury please state their decision."  
  
The judge's voice echoed again, and all twelve members of the jury stood to their feet. One man dressed in a crisp, pressed suit straightened his tie and cleared his voice.   
  
"We the jury hereby state that Duo Maxwell is guilty as charged."  
  
Duo barely heard Hilde give a tiny sob from behind him, as his sentence was read. Duo looked up to the judge's desk, his face showing slight sadness.   
  
"Very well. Duo Maxwell will hereby be sentenced to death by lethal injection for manslaughter in the second degree. Court dismissed."  
  
As soon as the bang of the gavel rang out for the last time, the sound of shuffling feet were heard as the audience wordlessly made their way out the door. Two large police officers took Duo by each arm and began to lead him to a door in the front of the courtroom.   
  
Duo managed the courage to take a cautious glance behind him. Hilde stood there, alone in the rows, her shaking hand clutching her purse. She locked eyes with him, and Duo could read the sadness and disbelief written all over her face like a book.   
  
One of the officers tugged on his arm, and Duo looked away from Hilde. She sighed and left the empty courtroom as the heavy oak door closed behind Duo with a click.  
  
  
  
*End part 1* 


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the next part...enjoy ^^  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Guilty Until Proven Innocent   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Duo stretched, trying to get the nasty kinks out of his neck and back. Sleeping on a metal cot with a matress about as thick as a blanket was MURDER on one's back. He sighed, and sat down on his death trap of a bed, and took another glance around his empty cell.   
  
His cell was small -- a little too small for Duo's liking. The walls were painted a boring beige color, with only a sink and a toilet attached to them. The bed looked simply like a thick sheet of metal attached to the wall by chains, with a flimsy matress carelessly tossed on top. There was a small window, just big enough to see through above his bed, and a slightly larger window in the door. Sunlight shone through the tiny window, enough to see by.  
  
"God...only three days here and I can already feel myself slowly going insane..."  
  
"Put a sock in it, Maxwell."  
  
Duo glared at the small crack in the wall. The crack was just big enough to see through into the next cell. Duo had discovered this crack just an hour after moving in to his cell. Lucky the idiotic officers that came by daily to check on him never noticed his only source of communication.   
  
Duo climbed off of his bed and looked through the crack to see one round brown eye. "Shutup Charlie, I'm sure you can remember your first week in here."  
  
The brown eye narrowed slightly and blinked once. "Yeah, but I wasn't such a pussy about it. Now stop complaining, you woke me up."   
  
The eye dissapeared from the hole and Duo sighed. He sat down on his cot, and thought back to the day of the trial. Hilde crying, the loud bang of the gavel that signaled the judge's final desicion, the one last look between Hilde and him, before he was taken away to this hell.   
  
A loud bang of metal on metal jarred him from his daydream and he looked up to see his dinner slide into the room through a small opening in the door. Upon inspecting the food, Duo wrinkled his nose in disgust.  
  
"I've seen some nasty things in my life, but this just blows it all away..."  
  
He set the tray of food on the floor with a loud 'clang' and laid down on his cot. The loud grumble of his stomach echoed throughout the empty room and he sighed.   
  
"What I would give for some of Hilde's cooking right about now..."  
  
The raven-haired girl was the last thing he remembered seeing before he fell into a restless sleep.   
  
  
  
-Flashback-  
  
  
  
"What...what happened..."  
  
Duo slowly opened his eyes to the faint sound of poilce sirens unusually nearby. He shifted his head slightly, feeling the rough texture of the carpeting against his cheek.   
  
Why was he laying down?  
  
He silently glanced around the room, noticing the usually off-white carpet had ugly dark crimson stains in it.   
  
"That can't be..." he mumbled to himself as he looked around for a second time.   
  
A hand sticking out from behind the couch caught his eye, and he slowly picked himself up from the floor. Immidiately, a wave of dizziness hit him, causing to stumble.   
  
"What the hell happened...?"  
  
He clutched the back of the couch and gazed, open mouthed at the living room before him.   
  
The elegant glass coffee table was shattered, the sparkling shards littering the crimson-stained carpet. Bricks were missing from the once-perfect fireplace, and the porcelain trinkets that stood on the shelf above the fireplace were shattered and scattered all over the place. Overall, the room looked like a tornado had hit full force, and Duo was sure the rest of the house looked no different.   
  
Slowly, he walked to the other couch and carefully looked over the edge. Duo had to quickly cover his mouth with his hand to prevent his breakfast from coming back up.   
  
There, lying on the floor, was Relena Peacecraft.  
  
Her normally crisp white blouse looked like someone had taken it and dyed it a deep crimson red color. Duo could see the bullet hole perfectly placed directly in the center of her forehead, and he could tell there were multiple ones in her back also. Her honey blonde hair was matted with dried blood, and Duo immidiately knew she was dead.   
  
He never even realized he was backing up quickly until he tripped over the reclining chair, and fell onto the damp carpet. Relena's still-open eyes stared at him blankly and Duo turned his head to the side, and promptly heaved up the contents of his stomach.   
  
He wiped his mouth with the back of his trembling hand and noticed something black lying beside the couch. Duo knew it was his gun -- he could see the etching of his initials surrounded by an etching of a cross on the hilt.   
  
If anyone found him here he was a dead man.   
  
"Shit," he muttered as he picked up his gun and stuffed it into his pocket. As soon as he had gotten to his feet, he was shoved down again by five police officers.   
  
"What the hell? You've got the wrong guy!" he yelled, as they painfully slapped a pair of tight handcuffs around his wrists.   
  
"You have the right to remain silent..."  
  
Duo barely heard the familiar speech every police officer made when taking a suspect into custody. His attention was more focused on the pixie-like girl in the window facing the front lawn. Tears were streaming down her pale, angelic face as she watched him get hauled to his feet, and ushered towards the door.   
  
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a police officer shake his head sadly as he pulled a white sheet over Relena's prone body.  
  
"Hilde...I didn't do it...you have to believe me!"  
  
Duo tried to pull his wrists free from the officer's grip, but they held strong. Hilde simply stood there for a few seconds before burying her face in her hands and running away, down the street.   
  
"This can't be happening..."  
  
  
  
-End Flashback-  
  
  
  
Duo was suddenly jolted awake by someone clanging on his cell door. He looked up warily and saw the unfamiliar face of an official staring at him.   
  
"You okay in there? Your screaming could be heard all the way down the hall."  
  
Duo sat up and rubbed his sweat-soaked face. "I'm fine."  
  
He could hear the jangling of keys, and Duo watched as his cell door swing open. The official had two pairs of handcuffs -- one for his wrists, one for his ankles -- in his hands.   
  
"That's good...'cause you have a visitor."  
  
The official stepped in the jail cell and began to shackle his wrists and ankles together. As he moved, Duo saw the figure of a certain girl he thought he'd never seen again standing in the doorway.   
  
"Hilde..."  
  
  
  
*End part 2* 


End file.
